The only things that were thrown outdoors last week were snowballs, as all of the events involving area softball, tennis and track athletes were called off because of weather.

It doesn't make our jobs any easier, either. After all, we're trying to find athletes who haven't been nominated as Athletes of the Week yet when the area sports world is put on hold because Mother Nature has a sense of humor.

But we found three boys and three girls worthy of nomination. All you folks have to do is log onto www.gftrib.com, find this story (wherein you should see the poll; just refresh your page if you don't), and select your candidate. You can vote as often as you'd like.

The polls close Wednesday at 12 noon, and the winners will be announced Thursday morning in the Tribune.

All athletes nominated for Athlete of the Week will be invited to attend the third annual Great Falls Tribune Northcentral Montana Sports Awards Banquet, Monday, May 21 at the Best Western Plus Heritage Inn. This year's keynote speaker will be Chase Reynolds, former NFL running back with the Rams. The Drummond Trojan standout also played four years at the U. of M.

The online voting competition and awards banquet are sponsored by Benefis Health System.

A reminder that nominees may be suggested by emailing: tribsports@greatfallstribune.com